This invention relates generally to the field of combustion engines, and more particularly to the field of steam-powered engines. Even more particularly, the invention relates to boilerless engines wherein exhaust gas, and the heat contained therein, produced by a small, secondary gasoline or diesel engine is utilized in the operation of the main engine.
Steam powered engines, often characterized as a type of external combustion engine, are well known, and typically comprise a boiler wherein steam is produced. Such systems are relatively inefficient and have not proven suitable as a means to provide the power source for vehicles and the like.
Examples of early attempts to provide an efficient steam powered engine, all of which show devices with significant differences to the invention at hand, include U.S. Pat. No. 1,233,951, issued to Alder in 1917, U.S. Pat. No. 1,424,798, issued to Black in 1922, U.S. Pat. No. 1,682,307, issued to Porter in 1928, U.S. Pat. No. 2,791,881, issued to Denker in 1957, U.S. Pat. No. 3,074,228, issued to Lee in 1963, U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,705, issued to Miller in 1965, U.S. Pat. No. 3,336,746, issued to Southwick in 1967, U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,130, issued to Stricklin in 1978, U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,814, issued to Doieg in 1979, U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,653, issued to Fischer in 1983, U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,573, issued to Schlueter et al. in 1983, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,100 issued to Hughes in 2000.
It has been discovered that an efficient steam powered engine can be produced as part of a system comprising a main engine, used to power a vehicle or other equipment, and a secondary internal combustion engine.